interbiznet.com
|
Click OK to subscribe to our free print and email Newsletters
One of the most interesting conclusions we
reached during the development of the 2002
Electronic Recruiting Index was that Hire.com is the only company in the
world that is currently producing Recruiting Software. We can almost hear the groans from critics who'd
suggest that sitting on Hire.com's advisory board has clouded our view of the
world. Here's what we mean by "Hire.com is the
only company in the world that is currently producing Recruiting Software". The Applicant Tracking Systems industry was
invented by Lars Perkins and Paul Costello almost exactly 20 years ago (give or
take a couple of days). It was a profound move forward. Applicant Tracking
Systems automate the administrative (workflow) parts of the hiring process,
provide resume search capability and allow for the documentation of regulatory
requirements. Webhire, the company formed by the two visionaries, remains the
largest single supplier of ATS (based on customer headcounts). It's an amazing
accomplishment and, if you have a moment, send the company a piece of email
congratulating them on 20 years of solid contributions. No company has
experimented more vigorously and productively. Applicant Tracking Systems are great for some
things: standardizing awkward processes, measuring administrative cycles,
ensuring conformity, organizing files and other administrative tasks.
Unfortunately, Recruiting is not an administrative process. The original idea
behind the ATS concept was to free the Recruiter from the Administrative burden
so that more Recruiting could get done. Unfortunately, software is unforgiving
and the promised freedom turned out to be more rigorous boundaries. As a result,
many ATS installations go unused. In fact, the critical discriminator in many
ATS procurements is the 'promise' of tight configuration control that makes the
constraints imposed by the software even tougher. That's why we make the distinction between and
ATS and Recruiting software. Recruiting software is about relationships,
decision making and collaboration. It focuses the recruiter on the decisions at
hand, offering support and information. It's no accident that Hank Stringer is
the only Recruiter to found a company in the space. He understands how to
recruit. The ATS suppliers all collect customer requirements (whether or not the
customers know how to recruit) for administrative purposes. It's the generational difference between Wang
and Microsoft Word. Surely, you'll remember (or know a kindly elderly person who
remembers) the incredible impact Wang had on the office. By placing word
processing machines on secretarial desktops, Wang made the first moves
into office automation. 15 Years later, however, Microsoft Word was the dominant
tool. The reason was simple. Wang's approach assumed that there would always be
a secretary, it was secretarial software. The Microsoft product was more
visionary and assumed that secretaries were only one of the kinds of users. It
was not secretarial software. It was word processing software. Managing the administrative stuff is important.
Assuming that that is the limit for Recruiting Software is a generational
mistake. As we've been pointing out this week, the emerging new social contract
is a profound challenge to existing administrative structures. Acquiring the
talent is far more important than ensuring that all of the administrative
processes run smoothly. In fact, rigid administrative automation will prevent
good recruiting. A new generation of tools is becoming available.
Hire.com is the first company to produce real recruiting software.
Sendouts
Pro was ranked the #1 applicant tracking system for staffing firms in
the Electronic Recruiting Exchange ATS 2001 survey of over 750 staffing
professionals.
Why?
Or visit www.sendouts.com to learn more.
Copyright © 2012 interbiznet. All Rights Reserved.
|
Electronic Recruiting News
FEATURES: ANNUAL REPORTS:
RESOURCES:
ADVERTISING:
Stocks We Watch:
|